This whimsical pencil drawing by Oz illustrator John R. Neill is for an uncompleted fantasy
illustration showing two very Ozzy characters marching with fife and
drum! The older gentleman is wearing a tights and pumpkin hose, and
bells on one of his ankles and around his neck; the boy, beating the
large drum has a chain of bells trailing down his back. Both cheery
fellows have hats with sprigs of holly at the top. Might this have been
drawn by Neill for possible use as a Christmas card? In any case it is a
charming and somewhat Ozzy fantasy drawing!

"Marching Fairy Folk" by John R. Neill (full image of board). $750.00

The
drawing is rendered in pencil or heavy illustration board. There is some
staining and discoloration at the edges of the boards but it is not
affecting the image area.

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paintings, pen-and-inks, and other wonderful drawings by John R. Neill!

Only the central section with the willow seems to be an a near finished
state. The rest of the painting is only loosely begun with various color
washes and light pencil work. Matted and framed properly the painting
could be extremely attractive even given its unfinished state.

Center detail of "Landscape with Willow" by John R. Neill.

The
painting is in good condition with only some light soiling to the
edges. The back has a few mathematical scribbles in Neill's hand and he
has also been working on some lettering for his eldest daughter's name
"NATALIE" for an unknown purpose.

Back of "Landscape with Willow" by John R. Neill.

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paintings, pen-and-inks, and other wonderful drawings by John R. Neill!

This fine drawing was created for the story "After-Wit" by Nalbro Bartley, published in the January 1921 issue of Everybody's Magazine. Neill's play of light and dark and the various textures he uses are excellent. Look at the detail in the curtains (decorated with assorted birds) and the way Neill drew the smoke, partially obscuring the background.

The drawing is on a large sheet of heavy illustration board. It is in very good condition. There is a small Neill family inventory sticker "99" at lower right above caption.

"After-Wit" Pen-and-Ink drawing by John R. Neill $2000.00

The drawing is signed "JNO R NEILL."

As mentioned above, the story "After-Wit" by Nalbro Bartley, was published in the January 1921 issue of Everybody's Magazine. You can see the drawing as published below.

Neill's drawing for "After-Wit" as published in EVERYBODYS MAGAZINE

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The author of "After-Wit" is Nalbro Isadorah Bartley. She was born in Buffalo, New York, November 10, 1888. She was an American short story writer and newspaper columnist. She died on September 7, 1952. You can read the entire story and see Neill's other fine illustrations for it below. Click on each of the images to enlarge them for easier reading. Enjoy!

"After-Wit" by Nalbro Bartley

Illustrated by John R. Neill

Published in Everybody's Magazine, January 1921

Click on the pages below to enlarge them for reading.

"After-Wit" Page 1 - Click to Enlarge

"After-Wit" Page 2 - Click to Enlarge

"After-Wit" Page 3 - Click to Enlarge

"After-Wit" Page 4 - Click to Enlarge

"After-Wit" Page 5 - Click to Enlarge

"After-Wit" Page 6 - Click to Enlarge

"After-Wit" Page 7 - Click to Enlarge

"After-Wit" Page 8 - Click to Enlarge

We have many fine original drawings by John R. Neill at our online store.

Of course, you have gathered the soft pink and white flowers that grow in May, and some with spots of red and stripes of gold.

When you gather them again, look very carefully into their faces and remember how hard the fairies have worked to get the colors right; for before you gather them, those little creatures have worked from early morning with brush and scissors, planning and clipping and cutting. Sometimes they use yellow and pink powders, pearls and diamonds, soft silks stretched over laces, all sewed carefully around the edges.

Those flower fairies sing and dance all day with the birds, and their work is almost play to them.

One very old fairy man, whose business it is to chase away the worms and hard-headed beetles, usually sits on a rock at the edge of the woods. He gives the alarm when the children are coming, and always seems sullen and quiet. Some say he is very disagreeable, and when no other fairy is around to see him, he has been known to poke his cane right through some of the prettiest flowers.

You can at times see very small holes in the flowers. These you will know he has made. But he does not do it often, only when he is feeling out of sorts.

When all the brushes of the fairies are broken, the birds will give them a feather or two from, which they make new brushes in no time.

All their days go quickly and happily, and at night each fairy climbs into the flower she likes best, and the petals close themselves like shutters, holding their little passengers lightly and comfortably swinging until morning.

And whenever a fairy has slept, that flower has the fragrance of its fairy which always stays, and that is all we really know of these wonderful little people.

—John R. Neill

Please visit our on-line store featuring many wonderful original
paintings, pen-and-inks, and other wonderful drawings by John R. Neill!

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Today we're looking at one of the earliest biographical pieces written on John R. Neill - and this one was written by Neill himself. The autobiographical sketch was published in the November 8, 1930 issue of Argosy Magazine, a monthly collection and serialization of adventure stories. In many issues they had a feature called "The Men Who Make the Argosy." Below you can see and read John R. Neill's moment in the Argosy spotlight. Click on the image to enlarge for easier reading.

John R. Neill bio in ARGOSY MAGAZINE November 8, 1930.

The biographical piece is loaded with information and detail. Neill begins by discussing his early art education at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and his brief stint in medical school, followed by his close friendship with fellow illustrator Joseph Clement Coll and their early careers working as newspaper artists.

Neill begins discussing his Oz career by stating, "The stage was blazing the success of L. Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' at this time and for some reason the publishers lit on me to illustrate a sequel to 'The Wizard.'" Of course Neill knew of Wizard primarily from the Broadway musical first! The show was at the height of its popularity in late 1903 and 1904 when Neill began work on his first Oz book The Marvelous Land of Oz.

Neill's endpaper design showing the stars of the 1903 WIZARD OF OZ.

Neill goes on to mention that he's now entertaining his own children with the Oz books, talks of his incredible success as he moved his career to high-end magazine work from the mid-teens through the 1920s working for The Saturday Evening Post, Pictorial Review, Ladies' Home Journal, and The Delineator - and how he poured many of the magazine's lucrative paychecks into building apartments in New York City.

In the mid-'20s Neill began designing a new home for himself and his growing family in Great Neck, Long Island, but stopped work on the house project to invest in a silver mine in Mexico! Read the article above to see how THAT went.

By the November of 1930 when this article appeared the 1929 stock market crash was a year old and much of Neill's best paying (and most beautiful!) magazine work had come to an end.

We will have much more on Neill's life and career as the blog proceeds - so keep checking back. And please visit our on-line store featuring many wonderful original paintings, pen-and-inks, and other wonderful drawings by John R. Neill!

There are very few of these preliminary drawings that
survive, showing Neill's process illustrating the famous Oz books. This
sheet shows two very early (and rather different!) ideas for Handy Mandy
herself. In the main image she appears younger than she does in the
final book illustrations, with Heidi-like braids hanging down her back. The second drawing at lower right shows her in the Dutch cap Neill
finally decided upon and the semi-circle behind her shows Neill's
pondering the chapter heading design.

HANDY MANDY design sketch showing Chapter Heading design.

Two more "chapter heading" shapes
appear along the mid-right hand side of the sheet. Above them, to the
right of the standing Mandy, is a rough for the final illustration of
Mandy on the flying rock from page 22 on the published book.